Indiana Jones 4 News: The Shia-ning

It was either that subject line or ‘Where’s LaBeouf?’ I think we’ll all agree that I chose wisely.

Yes, per USA Today, Shia LaBoeuf (I will never stop spelling that wrong) is in Indy 4, alongside Ford, Cate Blanchett, Sean Connery, and (please, I hope) Karen Allen (does she really have anything better to do?). Even though he was born 5 years after the first movie came out, he seems to get the spirit of the franchise: “I can tell you I’m sort of the sidekick character, obviously. I’m sure there are a lot of laughs at my expense, and some kind of creature crawling on me.” He also confirms: “It’s not going to be Short Round, all grown up.” Cover your heart, Indy. There’s also an amusing bit about the secrecy surrounding the project:

When he met Lucas recently at Spielberg’s offices on the Universal lot, LaBeouf says he brimmed with questions but hit a wall of secrecy, even about the relic Jones will be pursuing.

“Lucas looks at you and says simply, ‘I can’t tell you that,’ ” LaBeouf says. “Then when he thinks he is supposed to tell you something but isn’t sure, he gets up and leaves the room, goes in to talk with Spielberg and comes back and says, ‘Nope. Sorry.'”

This all seems like good news to me. I liked LaBeouf in Constantine. (Shut up, it had its moments. Shut up!) And what with him being in Transformers, it looks like he’s going to be popping up in nerd-friendly action franchises for some time to come. I actually talked to him on the phone for a profile of Keanu Reeves a few years ago, and he was smart and funny and motor-mouthed and disarmingly honest. Guess I’m going to have to learn to spell his damn name.